The temporomandibular joint and the closing muscles of the jaw connect the jaw to the temporal bones of the skull. Problems with this joint and the muscles associated with it are known as temporomandibular disorders (“TMD” or, more commonly, “TMJ”). The pain associated with TMJ can often be intense and long-lasting.
Although TMJ likely has multiple causes, one common cause is tightness in the closing muscles of the jaw. The normal range of these jaw-closing muscles is between 40 mm and 60 mm. However, because patients commonly clench and/or grind their teeth at night, as well as chew on hard objects or clench their teeth during the day, their closing muscles of the jaw become overly tight and cause the patient pain. The constant stress on these strong muscles causes them to tighten and reduce their range of motion, which in turn causes many TMJ symptoms.
In order to reduce, and hopefully, to eliminate their pain, patients need to stretch their jaw closing muscles. While the exact range of motion necessary will depend on each patient's range of motion, if a dental practitioner can assist a patient's jaw-closing muscles to achieve a value within the normal range, many times the patient's TMJ symptoms will subside. What is needed, therefore, is a dental device that can utilize step-wise incremental increases in jaw-opening to stretch and relax these muscles.
Various attempts have been made to address the above-mentioned issues. One such attempt can be seen in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2016/0228741, incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, which generally discloses a passive motion therapy device for stretching the jaw. While this disclosure does provide much-needed jaw strengthening, its design causes the device's bulk to rest relatively far out from the patient's jaw and its complicated, multi-piece design could confuse users.
Another attempt can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 5,746,703, incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, which generally discloses a jaw-widening device intended to facilitate an increased range of motion for the closing muscles of the jaw. While this disclosure does presumably widen the patient's temporomandibular joint range of motion, its imprecise design fails to provide for specific intervals upon which a patient's maxillary teeth may rest.
Yet another attempt can be seen with respect to U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 20070089752, incorporated by reference in its entirety herein, which generally discloses a handheld device for stretching the temporomandibular muscles. While this disclosure does provide a simplified jaw-stretching system, this disclosure relies on two bite plates that can only move a patient's bottom and top rows of teeth away from each other vertically, rather than radially. As such, this disclosure fails to stretch a patient's jaw along the jaw's natural range of motion.
Additionally, some attempts are known commercially. However, such products are generally inadequate for this purpose. For example, some commercially available solutions comprise little more than a metal bar configured as a tiered wedge. Such products risk patient injury. Other products are overly complex, such as those requiring complicated sensors and long tube-like center pieces.
Thus, a need exists for a new dental device that a user can use to stretch the user's closing muscles of the jaw.